Desire for Food vs. Desire for God

It’s no secret that I’ve dealt a lot with food, I’ve shared a lot about my food/weight struggles. Food has been a comfort to me in times of bad, and good. It has been something that I use knowing that I have full control on what I eat and how much I eat. Unfortunately, food is something that brings me great peace, and happiness.

Obviously food is not bad, and loving food isn’t bad. God gave us food because He knew we needed it to survive.

“Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” –Genesis 9:3

Looking at this verse we see that God told Noah and his sons that all the animals would fear them, and that every living thing will be available for them to eat. So looking at this verse, we know that God intended for us to be able to eat, because He knows that we need it to survive. The Lord knew we needed food even after he created Adam and Eve.

“Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food’.” –Genesis 1:29

From the beginning of creation, God knew that we needed food. Once Adam and Eve sinned, it became more important that we have food. Having a feeling of craving for food isn’t what’s normal.

We aren’t designed to crave food. We’re designed to crave the Lord. In my opinion, Lysa TerKeurst says it best:

“God made us capable of craving so we’d have an unquenchable desire for more of Him, and Him alone. Nothing changes until we make the choice to redirect our misguided cravings to the only one capable of satisfying them.” –Lysa TerKeurst, Made to Crave

Our desires, our cravings, should be in the Lord and not food. While food gives us the temporary good feelings, the peace and strength that we can get from the Lord is far better! We were created to desire Him, and to want Him and Him alone.

“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him, God the Father has placed His seal of approval” –John 6:27

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty'” –John 6:35

We need to crave the Lord the way we crave food. He is the only way we’re going to find that fulfillment, and acceptance. Yes, food is incredible, and definitely fills a temporary void. But that’s just it, it’s temporary. If you’re like me, when you feel bad about something you’re going to turn to food and binge eat. Then after you’re done, you’re feeling disgusting, and awful, about what you just did. Imagine if I took that desire to eat, and turned it into prayer!

“Each time I craved something I knew wasn’t part of my plan, I used that craving as a prompt to pray. I craved a lot. So, I found myself praying a lot.” –Lysa TerKeurst, Made to Crave

Can you imagine the difference that this mindset can do in our lives? To turn our focus from food, to the Lord. To take time to pray to Him whenever we’re feeling the desire to fix our problems with food, we take a temporary fix and do a permanent fix. Of course this isn’t something that can be done overnight, or even in a few months. Like anything, it’s going to take time to retrain our minds to make turning to the Lord the priority over food. But if we truly make it a habit, and work on it continually, it’s going to be something that happens without us even thinking of it! I know I still struggle doing this, but it’s something that I feel myself trying to do more of. I want the Lord to be the only thing to help me, to be the only thing I need to feel fulfilled. However, I know that we live in a fallen world where Satan is going to take any of our weaknesses and use them against us. So my friends, if this is something that you feel like you’re struggling with, I want you to know that you’re not alone, and I am praying for you! I would like to leave you with a question that Lysa TerKeurst asks in her book:

“Is it possible we love and rely on food more than we love and rely on God?” –Lysa TerKeurst, Made to Crave

Is it possible? Until next time, friends!